You can see in all the examples so far that Zusak describes things that reflect how his character is feeling. Their singing’s an abomination.”Ī lot of new writers try to write with all senses and go hog wild, describing anything they can think to describe. Even the Proclaimers are giving me the shits tonight. “The ridiculous first notes of “Five Hundred Miles” come on, and I feel like going berserk.Leaves crunching under your feet, birds singing, and a stream trickling can work together to describe an early Autumn day much more effectively than visual imagery on its own. The subtext here is obvious.Īuditory imagery appeals to the reader’s sense of sound. This quote is taken from a scene where the main character spends time with a very old woman. “It’s older now and a bit stale, the mud cake.Sometimes you can taste smells, and that image might be richer than if you described it with an olfactory image. Gustatory and olfactory imagery can work together or cross over each other. Gustatory imagery appeals to the reader’s sense of taste. The more he describes how gross the dog is, the more the reader can see that he clearly loves him. Throughout the whole book, the main character talks about how much his dog stinks, how lazy he is, how he’s always in the way, etc., but there’s nothing he loves more than his dog. … During that time, he smelled like a Scandanavian toilet.” I’ve rubbed it under his arms in copious amounts. … I’ve even tried encouraging him to use some kind of deodorant. … The initial stink of dog slaps them in the face, and it’s all over. “He’s a cross between a Rottweiler and a German shepherd, and he stinks a kind of stink that’s impossible to rid him of.Descriptions of things like flowers, chemicals, mold, and burning food can all work with olfactory imagery. Olfactory imagery appeals to the reader’s sense of smell. You can see her pain, but instead of just saying “she’s hurting,” Zusak makes the connection through how she’s holding herself. In the first one, we have a description of how the woman is sitting–her physical position–but we get so much more than that. “She looks at me, and she has sunshine-colored hair in a ponytail and clear eyes, like water.“He sips on his longneck beer from start to finish and touches the whiskers that seem glued in patches on his man-boyish face.”.“At one point, she holds her hands out, forming a cup.Descriptions of things like colors, shapes, textures, and movement can all work with visual imagery. Visual imagery appeals to the reader’s sense of sight. Markus Zusak is known for using crisp and original imagery to illustrate both the mundane happenings of daily life, as well as extremely weird circumstances. Let’s look at each sense individually with examples from one of my favorite books, I Am The Messenger. Mastering the use of all five senses in prose takes a lot of practice.
Types of imagery in we alone how to#
Let’s look at the five senses and examples of how to use them to craft effective imagery. If you can learn to use imagery realistically, relatably, and with strong language, you can pull your readers into your narrative almost immediately. So depending on how you frame it and the tone, you can purposely make certain readers feel something you want them to feel. So if there’s a new baby in the house, what do older children typically feel? Usually either happiness or jealousy. This is a powerful writing tool.įor example, if someone had a younger sibling and you describe the smell of baby powder, that’s a very strong olfactory memory and they’ll likely have memories of their childhood. When you use imagery of something familiar to someone, it can even elicit certain emotions intentionally. We often see sight and sound in writing, but if you can incorporate the less typical senses, combine them together, and use them creatively, you’ll sculpt a much richer picture for your readers. Using imagery in your writing means writing tangibly with the five senses: sight, sound, taste, touch, smell. It paints a picture for your reader to connect with your characters and world, and it just makes your writing more interesting to read.
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